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Preparing for SPEPNovember 1st, 2013

Stephanie Bradley, EPISCenterJeff Gregro, Berks County Juvenile ProbationMeghan Blevins, Olivet Boys & Girls Club, Reading

Roadmap

� What happens during the SPEP interview?

� What data do we need to provide for our SPEP score?

� What steps can I take to prepare for SPEP?

� Questions & answers

Key Drivers of Effectiveness

Service Type

Provider Delivery

SPEP Assessment

Probation Usage

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Arriving at SPEP Assessment

IDENTIFY

• Identify Juvenile Justice program(s)

MATCH

• Break program(s) into services, and MATCH with research-based categories

DATA

• Obtain demographic, risk, quality and quantity DATA for each service

SCORE

• Enter data into SPEP model to generate SPEP score

EVALUATE

• EVALUATE performance based on SPEP components and overall score

SPEP: A Users Guide, Lipsey, M. W., Chapman, G. L., Peabody Research Institute, Vanderbilt University, May 2013, p. 4.

Interview

Pre-visit Checklist

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The SPEP Interview

� Information sharing between probation, provider(s) and SPEP scorer(s)

� Discussion of how program is used and run, who runs it, what is covered in the program, what days, etc.

� Review of program materials

Interview Goals

� To determine the most appropriate service category for the service

� To gain an understanding of how the service is provided and monitored for the quality of service section of the score

Arriving at Service Type

Thorough understanding:

� How the program operates on a day-to-day basis

� What the structure of program delivery is

� What kind of content is covered in the service, and

� How often it is provided

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Understanding Quality

� What the training protocol are for staff

� How supervisors monitor the service delivery and provide feedback

� What steps are taken when service delivery is off-course

� Any written materials that relate to these areas

Data

Data Details

� Roster of youth in programs

� Begin and end date for each youth

� Number of weeks each youth in service (count)

� Number of hours each youth in service (count)

� All juvenile justice youth served in previous 12 months

� Risk level of youth served

� Based on YLS, pulled from JCMS

� Scored according to proportion of moderate and high risk youth served

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Data example from: SPEP Scoring and Program Certification Training – Gabrielle Lynn Chapman, Ph.D., courtesy of Peabody Research Institute, Vanderbilt University.

Preparing

It is very important for both the provider

and the scorer that the service category

and quality of service scores are as

accurate as possible.

The best way to ensure this accuracy is to

organize materials in advance of the

interview and to have relevant staff

available during the interview.

In other words, prepare ahead of time.

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Four Steps to Prepare for SPEP

� Assess the status of written manuals and other protocol materials

� Clarify and document how staff are supervised and how feedback is given

� Ensure data collection processes are in place

� Ensure data collected are adequate for reporting

Written Protocol

� Develop manuals

� Not the same as employee handbooks, orientation manuals, etc.

� Describe service, to whom, and how

� Update manuals

� Process of manual review

� Regularly

� Document review/revision date

� Use manuals

� Beyond training days

� Ongoing use

� Documentation/verification of use

Staff Supervision

� Ensure staff delivery of services are being supervised.

� Supervision should occur regularly.

� Supervision should be documented (who was observed, what was observed, reactions to what was observed), and feedback should be provided to the staff-person observed.

� Feedback to staff should be documented.

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Tracking Data

� How easy is it to gather the data?

� Can hours/weeks be counted easily and accurately?

� Are data collected on different “tracks” in the program?

Thank you!

� Webinar 3: Service Categorization, Dec. 13th @ 11:00am

� Webinar 4: Understanding and Creating Logic Models (Date

TBD, mid-late January)

� Evaluation of this webinar!

� EPISCenter website for additional resources:

� www.episcenter.psu.edu/juvenile

Contact Info

� Jeff Gregro

� Deputy Chief of Juvenile Probation – County of Berks

� jgregro@countyofberks.com

� Meghan Blevins

� Director of Specialized Initiatives – Olivet Boys & Girls Club

� meghan.blevins@olivetbgc.org

� Stephanie Bradley

� Managing Director – EPISCenter

� sbradley@episcenter.org